I realized I haven't shared the news here on the blog yet that I am back on the Studio Calico creative team this year. I was on the team several years ago, 2014 to be exact making projects with their Project Life kits as they were called back then. This time around my main focus of work for them will be creating pocket page spreads using their Documenter kit and lots and lots of stamping! Mostly in Travelers Notebook's but you'll see other projects pop up here and there too. It's been fun being back on the team and they are definitely keeping me busy which is great too. I've already contributed to one class this year and another will be coming in a few weeks too.Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using the links below. There is no additional cost to you if you use these links.

Here are the projects I made using the January 2018 kits called Summit.

The first is a pocket page spread using the Summit Documenter kit. I loved that it had a outdoorsy exploring theme and used photos from a trip from last summer. It was perfect. That floral tag was my favorite and I loved all the stamps, especially the travel themed ones.

I made this Travelers Notebook spread featuring the Summit Stamp Subscription. It was designed by Christine Herrin and I loved playing with the circles to create little flowers.

I also made another Travelers Notebook spread that featured the Love Stamp Set from Life Love Paper. It is such a great Valentine stamp set.

The February kits go live tomorrow at Noon EST for subscribers. I made three projects with the kits and also made an additional layout that will be featured on the blog soon. I'll be back to share those with you after they go live.

The next class I will be participating in is specifically about stamping in Travelers Notebooks so if that's something that interests you, you may want to check it out. It starts on February 19th and it should be a really fun class.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

I don't normally post on Sundays but I wanted to make sure to get this blog post up right away because I'm afraid that this months Kelly Purkey Shop release will sell out quickly. The kits and stamp sets are so good this month and the extra stamp sets are really speaking to people from what I've seen online. Let's get right to it.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using the links below. There is no additional cost to you if you use these links.The First Project I made was completely inspired by the My Universe kit. I LOVED the sentiments and the planet and moon stamps so much. It also helps that my daughter is completely obsessed with anything that has a galaxy print on it. I have seen so many cool galaxy backgrounds and paintings out there I decided I wanted to try my hand at making one too. I am not a painter by any means so this was a huge stretch for me but I love how it turned out. It took a few days to work on because the tutorial I followed suggested adding layers of watercolors and drying in between each layer. It was so much fun layering paint and watching it deepen and gain more depth. My painted background easily had 10 layers of watercolor, I would just layer, let it dry and add in some more. I used my favorite Peerless Watercolor papers and a few colors from an old Studio Calico set.

Here you can see it closer and you can also see the stamping I added onto a vellum tag using the stamp set in the My Universe kit. I love those stamps. I added in a few of the tiny stars right on top of my background too just to add in more accents.

I had initially thought I would just use a full size photo on half the page but when I was done painting I didn't want to loose a whole side. I ended up erasing the background of my photo and fussy cutting around the edge so the photo was more prominent but still layered. Its like shes floating int the galaxy and I love how it turned out.

Here is a glimpse of what layer one on my paper looked like so you can see how it started.

And this is the final layer, probably layer ten, I lost count. This was prior to adding in the white and silver star splatters that really made it come alive.

My second project is a special one. I really loved the sentiments behind Kelly's We Go High stamp set and I loved the colors of the papers in Tina's Forever Travelers Notebook kit. There are so many important movements happening now and I may not always talk about things like that here but I do feel them deeply. I wanted to use the stamps so badly but I didn't really have an empowering personal story to tell but while I was thinking about all of the powerful women out there that have spoken to me or taught me things just by being who they are I decided to celebrate them. I realized when I was making my list that there were quite a few women personalities and characters that I watched growing up that really spoke to me. These women all had strong convictions and stood up for themselves and that really made a difference on me when I was young.

When I was planning out this layout I thought I was going to cut the photos into circles but then I saw the postage stamp set that was in the Forever Travelers Notebook kit I switched things up. I printed all of the photos in black and white and sized them so that they would fit inside the postage edge stamp and leave a little extra. I then attached them to real envelopes and added in the postmark stamps, varying them up on each image. I then tore them out like you would a real stamp you wanted to save. I was going for irregular and authentic here.

I layered them out on the page in order of how they came into my life and what ended up was perfect pairs that also paired really well with some of the sentiments in the stamp set. I really love when things just align like that in the universe.

I used one of the cards in the My Universe kit to add my stamping and added an extra line with my typewriter. I layered some of the stickers from the Forever Travelers Notebook kit and called it done. I really do love this spread.

I hope this release speaks to you as much as it spoke to me. I love when I'm so utterly inspired to make something, its such an awesome feeling.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

I'm back to share the last of the pictures of my 2017 album. This album as always was a total joy to work on. I enjoy the process so much and love the finished albums. One thing I felt like I was super conscious about this year was coming up with new ways to document the stories in this album. Seeing as this was my 9th album, I really didn't want to repeat myself too much so coming up with new and fun ways to document the season was something that was always on my mind. Because I also do pocket page projects throughout the year I find that when its time for this project I want to use the actual pockets less and less. That's one of the reasons there are so few pockets in this album. I find that irregular shapes definitely helps keep it fresh for me. I did managed to add in a few new stories this year and that made it super fun for me too. I was also thinking it may be time for me to switch up sizes. I've done 6x8 for so many years now that this may have also helped fuel my "I'm in a rut" feelings as I was creating. Its a decision that can wait for now but its definitely something to really think about for next year. Enough about that, lets get to the photos.

Day 20 was one of my favorite festive days this whole season. It had two distinct stories and I didn't want to choose between the two so I decided to tell both. That meant I would need more room so I created another one of my fold out envelopes. I used the same method that I shared in this post to create the base. I used some Kelly Purkey papers to line the outside of the envelope and left the inside white.

The large black chipboard numbers from Ali were so great this year. The size and the impact of the black is exactly my design choice so they fit in so well. I'm kicking myself for not getting two sets. I really hope she brings them back next year.

Inside the envelope I typed up the story of both events and attached it to the inside. The word art is from In A Creative Bubble. Its one of her 3x8 cards I just made it small to fit the space. I got asked a lot about this font when I posted my photos and its called Marista is you are curious. When I got it, it was the only script typewriter font I could find but now I see there are a few more available when searching online. I really love this one though, and I use it a lot. There is also a paid version that includes an italic version that is really nice too.

On the right side is the pocket and it houses all of the images from the two events. I printed four from each and could have stuck them back to back, but I had the space so I left them separate. I added in a rubber banner and a gold star to dress up the pocket. I adore how this turned out and if you have never thrown a holiday party for your friends and made a hot cocoa bar, it was so much fun and I'll do it again next year for sure.

Day 21 was the story of a new pillow I found in the Target Dollar Spot. The idea of believing in the magic of Christmas is something I hold dear so when I saw the pillow I knew I needed it. My mom added the white pom poms to the corners for me and it was exactly what it needed to make it more festive. The magical card on the left was from a planner addon from Studio Calico and I loved it. I bought it during one of their sales specifically because I wanted to use that in my album.

I don't remember where that fa la la transparency came from but its not from this year. Maybe one of Ali's past kits? I added in some word strips from Tim Holtz and one of Kelly's letterpress tags on top of one of Jamaica's kit cards. I really loved her square color block cards.

I tend to to these kinds of transparency pages when I need more room to add in a story, but I love the look of the clear pages laying on top of photos. The journaling card is from In A Creative Bubble and I used it mainly because it had a check box for Believing. Love.

The chipboard Daily Life was from last year I think.

Day 22 was the day we built our Starbucks gingerbread houses with our friends. We did it last year and it was so fun and we were so happy to see they made them again this year. This years design was super cute and the girls loved putting them together.

On the right side I printed out a photo of the box and used it as a base page and clipped the story and a few more photos to the edge. The sticker on the journaling card came from Starbucks this year. I loved the graphic of that sticker. Clipping photos to the edges of pages was definitely a favorite element for me this year.

What I typically do is glue the clip in between the back to back pages so they don't slip out. That helps keep them in place and also keeps the clip from showing on whatever story is on the backside. You'll notice below that you can't see the clip on the other side.

Day 23 was a tradition story that seems to go in each year. The journaling card is from In A Creative Bubble enlarged to fit the space which also allowed for more story. The chipboard piece is from Tim Holtz.

Day 24 we ended up spending Christmas Eve with our friends making cookies and having dinner out. It was a super fun time and I loved spending it with them. I used a sheet of paper from Kelly's kit to add in my journaling in list form. It was a fun way to do it and kept it fresh. I also liked that it had a big impact since my pockets were all filled with photos except for the one slot. The chipboard piece was from the Paislee Press mini kit. She had a few pieces that I really wanted to use so I made sure to find space in the last two days.

I cut down a four pocket page to get some more slots and it was just the right amount of space. I added in a tab and used two of the Tim Holtz word strips inside.

Day 25, the big day! Over the past few years I've used the same template on the 25th in order to fit in all of the photos I wanted to use. This year I had it all set up and printed and just couldn't do it. I needed something different so I sat on it for awhile, digging thru my supplies for something to jump out at me. This other Rifle Paper Co. card jumped out at me. I loved the colors of the card and it worked so well with the pink and green and it fit right in with the colors this year. I decided to make it a little book to hold the photos and words from the day and loved how it turned out.

I also always get asked about these little tabs, they are from Basic Grey, they were called Attache Me stickers and they are discontinued. But, you can still find some for sale online if you do a search.

For the inside of the booklet I used thick vellum for my pages, its 35# and its the perfect thickness while still allowing for stuff to show thru. I used a journaling card from In A Creative Bubble but I modified the color so it was more of a army green than the Evergreen her original design had. I used two cards to hold the story and placed them back to back on the front page.

I used the same card as my title page and paired it with a card from Studio Calico. I loved the pink! I also used one of the rubber pieces from the Paislee Press mini kit that I hadn't used. Since it was dated I had to get it in the album somewhere so in it went.

I love that you can see the back of the Studio Calico card thru the vellum and used it as base for a simple die cut that was from Heidi Swapp as I recall. I did end up using the collage I had made, I just shrunk it down to fit inside my little booklet. I love how this turned out!

At then end of the album I like to share photos of what our Elf does each season and its always fun to come up with fun ways to share the photos. This year I made a waterfall page to house all of the photos. I did dress up the back of the Rifle card with a tree from Push Print Studios. I thought the colors paired well. The card on the right was from Studio Calico this year. I knew I would use the card here because our Elf's name is Twinkle.

The waterfall was pretty easy to create I first came up with the size of my photos which was 5" x 3" and laid out a template in Photoshop Elements. I cut 5" x 3/4" strips of card stock and scored them 1/4" from the edge. I attached the photos on that 1/4" edge so that they were right up against the fold. I then used the remaining 1/2" of paper to attach it to the backing page of cardstock one of top of the other. This allowed the photos to be bent up as you flip thru.

One the inside of the front flap I typed up some journaling. I also used the little black tab numbers from Jamaica's kit to label the day of each photo. I shared a complete flip thru of all of the photos on my Insta Story and have it saved in my profile if you want to see it you can find me here. I'll also do a complete flip thru when I film the video walk thru.

On the inside back cover of the album I attached the gold envelope that came with the card I used on the 25th. Inside I added in the notes that Twinkle left for my daughter along with the Christmas letter we never got around to mailing to Santa.

The End! I'll try to film the videos as soon as I can and get them loaded. I know its super late but I still want to do them.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Man alive, this is way over due. I'm going with the motto its better late than never because I really wanted to share these pages but the early part of January really kicked my ass. As I mentioned in my last post, we were super sick and that ended up lasting 15 days for me. It was a beast! Then I had some assignments to work and and here we are, the 24th of January. Phew! So if you still care about December Daily® and you haven't finished yet and still need some inspiration this is for you. Because I have so much to share I'm going to break up the last of the album pictures into two posts so it's not too long. I also plan to do video a walk through or two as well since its what I had planned to do. Watch out for those coming soon. I'll post it here too when they are done.

Okay, lets get to it!

Day 12 is about our time with Santa which actually happened when we went to Lake Tahoe. I think its perfectly okay to save stories to place them in on a day that may not have a story to tell. I'm not super strict and its my album so I am totally okay with it.

The card I used here is from Rifle Paper Co.

It was the perfect place to hold some journaling on the back side. The header on the card is from In A Creative Bubble and the rubber piece is from Felicity Jane. The word strips are from various places many one from last year, the others are from Tim Holtz this year.

Day 13 was a super simple entry and one that I ended up loving a lot. This was a mad dash day to Target to finish up some shopping of gifts we needed to get in the mail. I'm going to share the original photo that I took at Target so you can get an idea of what I was shooting in order to get this. I easily could have used the photo as it was below but I had used a similar photo last year and wanted to play up a little bit more of the white space.

I really liked how the tight cropping ended up working and it left the perfect space for the word art from one of Kelly Purkey's kit papers. I cropped out the text portion of the paper and placed it right on top of my image. I added in the text prior to printing and called it done.

Day 14 was one of those days that took awhile to complete. I always like to put a shot of our Christmas tree in the album but I wanted to try something new and different than just a photo with a journaling card. I knew I wanted to use the tree paper form Kelly's travelers notebook kit but I didn't know how. This is a classic case of needing some time to come up with an idea and that can look like me sitting and staring at a piece of paper for awhile before and idea comes to me. And by awhile I mean a few hours.

I really love interactive pages and really loved last years wreath shape page that I made and I was also inspired by a page Ali made where she cut half circles. I ended up using the cut page of the tree paper as a template and laying out my text as a separate page. I used the digital file of the dot paper to print it out on vellum and I love how the mirror images worked. As far as embellishments go, I added in a few enamel dots to separate my statements and some stamping and it was done.

Day 15 was another errand day but we also stopped for coffee so it was the perfect place to add in a little Starbucks love. I love adding in vellum envelopes to hold photos and I also love layering paper as a design element.

I really loved the tiny star paper clips from Felicity Jane this year and need to pick up some more. They are tiny and so perfect.

This is a journaling card from In A Creative Bubble that I enlarged to 4x6 to hold the story. On the back is a postcard that Starbucks passed out this year.

Day 16 has already been shared on the blog, I used some of Kelly's stamps to complete this spread but wanted to also share it here for cohesion. I loved the way the background turned out and it was a really fun page to work on.

Day 17 was a day when I really didn't have a story so I ended up sharing a little bit about the Christmas cards we had received. Its not a story I've included previously so I liked that it was something new.

I used three journaling cards from In A Creative Bubble on this side and added in a photo of some of the envelopes we had received so I could feature the stamps.

Initially when I had made this spread I had placed the numbers right on top of my photo of all of the cards but I didn't like that it covered so many faces. I ended up moving the numbers to the top of a transparency so it could be turned and the photo below completely visible.

This isn't all of the card we received but its a fun way to showcase some of them.

Day 18 was my first time attending my friends cookie exchange. I was so happy I could attend this year and I couldn't wait to put it in the album. I knew I wanted to use the letterpress Merry card from Kelly's TN kit so I decided it paired perfectly with my candy cane cookies. If you are interested in the recipe you can find it here. They were really good.

I love clipping photos to the edge of pages, its a great way to get more into a day without having to use a page protector when you really don't want to use a page protector.

Day 19 was another super simple day. I had already taken a photo of some of the wrapping paper I had purchased new this year but then I found this paper and it surpassed everything I had already purchased. I'm just sorry I never made it back to the store to buy another roll. I kept the rest of the spread super simple just a title and a tiny line of text on the photo. Its one of my favorites this year.

Okay so if you made it thru all that, you get a gold star. I'll be back with the rest of the album as soon as I can get it typed up.